Believe, a Paris-based music company, has announced its full-year financial results for 2022. The results indicate that the company generated a record €760.8 million in annual revenues, a YoY growth of 31.8%.
This represents an increase of €183.6 million over its 2021 revenues. Believe’s growth rate in 2022 was higher than the previous year when it grew by €135.8 million (30.7%) YoY. Furthermore, the company’s revenues surpassed the €750 million milestone for the first time in its history.
Believe’s global operations are divided into two divisions: TuneCore, the DIY distributor, and the core premium label and artist services operation, called Premium Solutions. The former’s revenues grew 34.5% YoY, from €35.8 million in 2021 to €48.2 million in 2022, while the latter’s revenues grew 31.6% YoY, from €541.3 million in 2021 to €712.6 million in 2022.
The breakdown of the company’s revenue shows that digital revenues represented 92.3% of its overall revenues in 2022, compared to 90.9% in 2021. The growth in digital music sales, according to the company’s Founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie, illustrates its ability to gain market share by attracting new artists and to innovate using tools such as Spotify Discovery and YouTube monetization. Non-digital revenues also increased by 7.6% during the year, mainly driven by revenue growth in merchandising, live and branding activities, which offset the decline of physical sales.
Believe’s Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation) was €34.7 million in 2022, representing a margin of 4.6% versus 4.0% in 2021. The company reported that it surpassed the milestone of €1 billion in digital music sales for 2022, proving the business model’s appeal to artists and labels across different markets, illustrated by the geographical diversity of the large number of artists and labels joining Believe.
The number of artists served directly (presumably via TuneCore) or via labels by the wider group (via its artist/label services operations) increased by around 200,000 artists to reach the milestone of approximately 1.3 million artists in 2022.
Region-wise, Believe’s revenues in Asia Pacific and Africa combined saw revenue growth of 52.7% to €199.3 million in 2022, representing 26.2% of the group’s revenues (versus 22.6% in FY’21). In France, the market represented 16.9% of the company’s revenues, where Believe’s revenues increased by 34% to €128.6 million.
The company’s revenues in the Americas increased by 30.7% to €109.2 million, representing 14.3% of the company’s total revenues. In Europe (excluding France and Germany), Believe’s recorded revenues grew 27.6% to €210.2 million and represented 27.6% of its total revenues in 2022.
Believe also notes that its expansion of premium services offering and investments in India-based Think Music and Philippines-based VMAG “enabled strong growth in India and Southeast Asia, while the Group accelerated its development in Greater China during the year.” The market dynamics remained strong throughout the year, despite a slowdown in the growth of ad-funded streaming revenues since June 2022, which impacted the activity of the region.
The company also increased its appeal to a wider variety of music genres in France, thanks to strategic partnerships with Play Two and Jo&Co.
